Furnace for roasting, smelting, or otherwise treating ores.



E. BUCHHOLTZ. l PURNAGB FOR ROASTING, SMELTING, 0R OTHERWISE TRBATING GRES.

APPLICATION IILBD APB. 10, 1913.

Patented June 23, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

E. BUGHHOLTZ. FURNAGB FOR ROASTING, SMELTING, 0R OTHERWISE TREATING GRES. APPLICATION FILED Ammo, 1913.

blown-1, Patented June 23, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

ERNEST BUCHHOLTZ, OF HABROW, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR T THE OIL-FLAMEFURNACE CQMPANY, LIMITED, 0F HIGH HOLBORN, ENGLAND.

FURNACE FOIE BOASTI'NG, SMELTING, OR OTHERWISE TREATING GRES.

ricami.

Specication of Letters latent.

Patented June 23, 191A.

Application filed April 10, 1913. Serial No. '160,157.

. To all whom it may concern:

lill

Be it known that I, ERNEST BUCHHOLTZ, a subject of the German Emperor, and resi* dent of Penlan, Marlborough Hill, lVealdstone, Harrow, in the county of MiddleseX, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in Furnaces for Roasting, Smelting, or Otherwise Treating Ores, of which the following is a specication.

This invention relates to improvements in furnaces' for roasting, smelting and like operations; and for otherwise treating ores.

The object of the improvements 1s to provide a furnace which is particularly adapted for use with liquid fuel burners and in which the temperature and other conditions are capable of being regulated exactly as desired. The preferred liquid fuel burners are of the type comprising a series of superposed open vessels or trays containing the liquid fuel such as petroleum, crude oil, petroleum refuse, tar oil and so on. The vessels of the series are spaced from one another to allow of the entry of air between them and may be supported each in a respective water bath, in order to prevent overheating of the fuel vessel and also to provide steam or water vapor for mixing withv the liquid fuel vapors and air.

According to the present invention, an ore smelting furnace chamber, which is prefer ably oblong in plan and is in communication with the mixing chamber of the fuel burner, has an opening leading into an inclined ore roasting chamber which is placed in communication with the flue and means are provided in combination with these chambers for enabling the heat in the roasting chamber to be regulated, modulated or graduated according to the working conditions desired.

rThe through passages between the smelting chamber and mixing chamber are preff erably arranged nearer tothe iioor than to the roof of the smelting chamber and the floor of the smelting chamber is preferably concaved transversely or trough-shaped and gently sloped from the rear end down to the burner end. The side walls of the smelting chamber are provided with a series of manholes or handholes fitted with doors, in order to allow of the introduction of tools or implements into the smelting chamber for the purpose of assisting or regulating the sliding of the orc down the sloping floor of the.

smelting chamber. The doors in the'op posite vwalls preferably do not face one another but are arran ed on the hit-and-miss principle so as to a ord a greater range of control.

The roasting chamber or flue into which the rear end of the smelting chamber opens is inclined upwardly from the end ofthe smelting chamber at an angle of, say, 20 to 25 degrees and a dome or hood is provided over an openin at the highest point of the roasting cham er, for the collection of fumes, for example sulfurous fumes or gases, which may be led away to a suitable condenser or deposit chamber, or may be otherwise suitably dealt with. Manholes or handholes fitted with doors are provided in the side walls of the roasting chamber when the latter is a iXed structure of, for example, brickwork or masonry, the arrangement of such holes being similar to that described with reference to the smelting chamber, and in .one side Wall of the roasting chamber openings are formed communicating with branch lues leading into a main flue, the latter leading the waste gases and products of combustion into a dust collectin or recovering chamber or directly to a chimney. lf desired, of course, these openings and branch flues might be arranged on both sides of the roasting chamber. Doors or dampers are fitted in the branch lues so that any,

number of the latter may be shut od, thereby enabling the temperature atl various points of the roasting chamber to be regulated as desired. In some cases, however, the roasting chamber is constructed Wholly or partly as an inclined revolving drum, and it is then advantageous to have the last few feet of the roasting chamber sloping down wardly toward the smelting chamber at a much steeper angle. This steep portion of the roasting chamber may be built in the brickwork or other fabric of the smelting chamber and need not be revoluble. In this modiiication the smelting chamber is conveniently .arranged at right angles to the axis or length of the roasting chamber and flues and dampers or valves may be provided to allow some of the heat to escape from the smelting chamber so that the whole of the heat does not enter the roasting Zone, the tem erature in the latter being thereby capab e of regulation as desired and to suit various working conditions. The heat in the roasting chamber can therefore be very nicely modulated or controlled and, owing to the revolution of the roasting chamber, sticking of the material to the Walls oic the roastingchamber is avoided.

In'order to enable this invention to be readily understood, examples of thetvvol constructions above referred to will behereinafter more articularly described with reference to t e accompanying drawings throughout which similar reference lcharacters have been employed to indicatesimilar or corresponding arts.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of a combined furnace and roasting chamber constructed according to these improvements, the roasting chamber being of the fixed or non-revoluble variety. Fig. is a plan of Fig. l. Fig. 3` is partly a front elevation and partly tion upon the line Ill-lll of Fig. l. F ig.

fio

1iis a transverse section upon the line `Tlf-IV of Fig. 2. Fig. his a longitudinal section, partly in side elevation offfa, modi fied construction in Which the rbasting chamber comprises inclined revoluble cylinders or drums, and, Fig. 6 is a plan showing parts in horizontal sections, thesections being taken along irregular lines, as Will be apparent by comparing Figs. 5 and 6, for the sake of olearness.

Referring to Figs. l to 1i, a is the s a ing chamber which is in communication through the passages or nozzles Zi with. the so-called mixing chamber c of the Aburner (Z. The latter preferably ,consists of a number of superposed traysstuated in apassage` 'orrpassages e leading into the chamber e and containing liquid fuel as aforesaid, and.

' ucts the nearer to the bottom oi the chamber c` than,

the top and a little above the highest point on the surface of the sloping hearth or bedy It. rlhe hearth his preferably concave or trough-shaped in cross section and slopes downwardly toward the Irnxing chamber7 o.

At the lowest pointof the hearth i there` may be an exit into a siphon or tl-beiidj communicating With a metal. pot or receiver la, which arrangement is particularly suitab nen smelting lead from lead ores.

The side `Walls of the smelting chamber a are formed with manholes or han dholes Z which a transverse sec- 'osent iiiveii loer` c may beV allows air to or closed by suitable doors,ortlie like, not shown in the drawing. These aperturespermit of the introduction of tools or implements for operating upon the charge of materialu on the hearth. The roof ot the smelting ciainber may comprise removable sections m1 to alloysT of cleaning or repairing operationsI being carried out in the chamber a when necessary.

In the construction shown, the open end of the smelting chamber a communicates With an inclined roasting chamber m of the same Width as, and inclined upwardly from, the smelting chamber a a suitable angle being say, 20 to 25 degrees from the horizontal. kThe sidewalls of this chamber m are formed With apertures a, and it is preferred to arrange each aperture in one side wall ata point opposite a. point midway between tivo neighboring apertures in the opposite side Wall, as will be understood by reference to Fig. 2.

it. lue 0 is provided preferably at one side of the roasting chamber m and into this flue branch lines y) are led, the branch dues `p communicating With the roasting chamber at suitable points and being littcd withv suitable dempers or valves, not shown, orregulating or shutting oli the flow of hot gases, fumes and products of combustion through any branch flue 7) as may be desired. By adjusting the various dampers or valves, thetemperature in the roasting chamber m is capable of being graduated, so that at diifereiit points along the chainber m there may be maintained different temperatures suited to the conditions which it may be desirable for the material undergoing treatment to have at those points.

At the upper end of the roasting chainber there is a dome or hood g in which yfumes or gases may be collected as, aforesaid. Such fumes may bei'iod away from the hood g to a condenser or deposit chainyber,` or may be otherwise suitably dealt with. For example, there may be an opening 1 in the hood communicating by a branch a' with the liuc o which may lead te a condenser or deposit chamber as aforesaid. lf preferred, however, the branch flue e may lead into any other suitable duet.

.The ore is preferably led into a hopper t and delivered from the latter to the upper eno et the roasting chamber conveniently by means of a Worin conveyer il., a ilap valve or sclt-closinof hinged door e being suitably iitted over the feed opening at the upper end of the roasting chamber m, so that the Alatter Will beclosed and the escapo oi' hot air and gases prevented, Whenever the conveyer u ceases' to supply ores to the roasting Chamber m.

ln operation the combustion is conducted so that the highest temperatures are produced in the smelting chamber a and at the iio del

most advantageous oint in the ylatter. Theilame from the liqui fuel" burner dis dravvn through the smelting chamber a ,over the ore contained therein andundergoing-thel process of reduction and Jsmeltingw The dame and hot gases then passup the slop-Y` ing roasting chamber mand roast the fresh.

ores which are being `fed through such chamber. lThe gases andproducts of combustion escape by any one or more of the branchv lines p, the position and-numberfof/ thellues open to the roasting" chamber being con trolled by the dampers in accordance '.vith the temperature required' at lthe various parts of the roasting chamber.

According to the modilied cdustruction f of heating all over the chamber a; The

floor or hearth It Vmay. sloe downward from the rear to the front an also, in addition, from the burner end toward the curved end fw of the chamber a. Suitable manholes and handholes Z are provided in the Walls -for the insertion of implements employed in smeltin` processes and flue openings as are provided preferably at, or.

near to, the .curved end w of the chamber and near to the orice of the roasting cham ber so that, by suitably regulating such tlue openings, the amount ot heat passing into the inclined roasting chamber can be varied as desired.

el steep portion y ot the roasting chainu ber m or tunnel may open into the smelting chamber a', midvvay along one of the long sides thereof, and the Walls of such steep portion may be formed with hand-holes fa,

llhe various hand-holes may be narrovl7 at the outside and may open out inwardly to allow of the necessary movementsl of the tools.

rlhe roasting chamber-'m instead ot being i'inedly constructed and Wholly of brick Work may comprise three cylinders or drums a .a each; oiQ which is mounted on suitable roll ers l. or bearings and is 'provided with a toothed ring 2 or the like, so that the cylinders may be driven at dillerent speeds il' desired. For example, reciprocating racks 3 may mesh With the toothed. rings 2 for oscillating the cylinders or drums e. The cylinder' nearest the smelling chamber a may have the greatest diameter and the intermediate cylinder may have itsI lower end duced, as at 4C, so as to take into and maire yjoint with the cylinder of greatest diameter. yThe third cylinder from the smelting -chambera` may have anared lower end 5 taking over theupper end of the intermedi- :ate cylinder and may also` have a llared upperv end l6 takingfover a tubular outlet 'Z ,from acharging hopper 8.x i

A combined charging hopper` and chute 9 is conveniently ybuilt of brickvvork, and a l dome or draw-ollhocdg for the abstraction ofgases and fumes is built over therchute 9, and in front of the dome or hood Q there may be a flue s acel() formed in the brickwork and'tte with a damper which can' be suitably regulated.

The Ycylinders e constituting `the roasting chambers may be fitted ,with circumferential thrust rings ll in suitablepositions and the supporting rollers l upon which the cylinders e. turn may have rear bearing faces lor receiving the 'thrust of the rings ll aforesaid `due to the endvvise tendency of the cylinders e whose axes are at an angle to the horizontal. 0f course roller or ball bearing. devices may be fitted Where desired for the purpose of reducing rictional re-v sista-nce to movement of the drums.

l claimw l. A roasting and smelting liquid tuel furnace, comprising a mixing chamber for fuel and air, a smelting chamber in communication with said mixing chamber through nozzle-like passages, a roasting chamber inclining upwardly away from said smelting chamber and communicating With the latter, tlues leading from a plurality ot points in said furnace, and dempers in said llues for regulating the escape of hot gases after the latter have been ctllective in the smelt-ing chamber, whereby the temneratnre in the roasting chamber may be t sted to suit the mate rial being roasted.

2. t roasting and smelting liquid. fuel furnace, comprising a mining chamber lor fuel and air, a smelting chamber in communication with said mixing chamber through nozzledike passages, aroasting chamber inclining upfvardly away from said smelting chamber and communicating 'with the latter, a hood arranged over the upper of eng end of said roasting chamber, draw-oil nieans connected With said hood, lues leading from' a plurality of points in said furnace, and dampcrs in said dues for regulating' the escape of hot gases alter the latter have been elective in the smelting chamber, whereby the temperature in the roasting chamber may be adjusted to suit the material being roasted.

3. A roasting and smelting liquid fuel furnace, comprising a smelting chamber, a liquid fuel burner arrangement to deliver a heating llame into said smelting chamber, an inclined roasting tunnel leading from said smelting chamber, an inclined cylinder llltl Communicating' with Said tunnelE means Alier l rerelulol)V supporting' said Cylinder, driving` means 'lier said cylinder, feeding means to deliver material to be roasted into the upper end el? Said Cylinder, ilues leading from a number of points in the walls of Said smelting ehaniber and dampers in said lines for regulating' the escape of hot gases, Wherel'iy the volume of hot gases passed through Jthe roasting' tunnel may be adjusted to suit the material being' roasted, substantially as set forth.

4. A roasting and Sineltinp,l furnace7 Comprising' a sineltinfr chamber, a liquid fuel burner ar angenient adapted to deliverl a heating flame inte said sinelting el'ianiher. an inclined roaating tunnel having` a. coniparatively steep gradient and opening at itsl lower end into Said smelting; chamber, a revoluhle cylinder, revol-uble means rotatabl)y supporting Said cylinder at an angie ot' inrliualtiini which is not so grez'it as :hat of the tunnel aforeeaid, said cylinder rein nuuiiml'innj with Said tunnel. c'i'iifingf nier-i geared with 'd ffylinri'er a tu rn ereifl ff der about ru`- axis 'im/ling iieans adapted in liquid fuel teria] "sa be roasted into the upper end of said eylirder. i'lues leading from a. number of points in the walls of leaid sinelting chainher and danipers in said llues for regulating the escape of hot `gases, whereby the volume et hot gases passed through the roasting tunnel may be adjusted to suit the material being roasted, substantially as set forth.

A roasting" and smelting liquid `fuel furnace, Comprising,Y ay snielting chamber having a greater length than breadth and constructed with regulatable flue Openings, liquid fuel burners arranged at one end of said chamber to deliver a heating; liame into said ehaniber, a curved Wall at the other end of said chamber, an inclined tunnel leading1 from one, leide of said sinelting ehaniber. an inclined reroluble cylinder conununicat'iuf 7^ at its lower end with Said tunnel, and feeding means at the upper end of said cylinder ler introducing material to be lire-ined into the upper end oit said cylinder.

EBN E ST BUCHHOLTZ.

In J. l'Von'rn', (j. l. Linnen. 

